Category: Taxes

People are stupid…

… and taxpayers doubly so.

Queen Kathy of New York has seen fit to charge fossil fuel companies for being “major polluters”. She goes on to state:

“For too long New Yorkers have borne the costs of the climate crisis, which is impacting every part of the state.”

Never mind that the energy companies she seeks to penalized are producing exactly what the customers desire – fuel to power their cars, heat their homes, and run their televisions. Never mind that the energy companies are not burning the fuel and generating the “climate crisis” of which Hochul speaks; no, that responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the people who are demanding and using the energy.

So why is Hochul not blaming global warning on the people actually burning the fuel – i.e., the consumer? Oh, wait – she is! She’s just not telling them. Just who do you think will pay these new fees – the oil executives? Their stock holders? Or the consumer? Yeah; that’s what I think, too.

Such laws always seem to tout a dubious public good, ex: for the children, for the environment, for the homeless, etc. But in reality these laws are nothing more than a “stupid tax” to fuel a slush fund for political pet projects, financed by people far too stupid to realize that it is they who are footing the bill. You’d think people would have learned from California’s treatment of PG&E (Remember the wildfire costs levied against PG&E, leading to some of the highest energy costs in the nation?).

In the words of Forrest Trump [sic]: “Stupid is as stupid does.”

Buying votes with YOUR money, Part II

That’s $300,000,000,000 in student loan debt forgiveness. This amounts to almost $1000 of debt to be absorbed by each and every man, woman and child living in America.

Biden announces student loan handout as national debt soars

This wasn’t “free” money; it was money taken from the treasury and given to students with the intent that it be paid back with reasonable interest. Never mind that only the student benefited from the loans that they took out. Never mind that this money – if/when repaid – could be used to send others to college. Never mind that this money was taken from the American taxpayers, and that without repayment they will have to pay the loss out of their own pockets – again.

What kind of message does this send about responsibility? Don’t worry; if you f**k up the government will bail you out? Your poor decisions will weigh heavily on the minds of your betters, as they sacrifice to pay for your failures? That your life is a check written against the productivity of others?

Sadly, it’s just business as usual in D.C.; buying votes with your money has become commonplace, and I don’t see it ending soon. Funny (or, actually, not so funny), the following paraphrased quote seems apropos – although I don’t know its source (it has multiple citations; not sure which is correct):

A democracy will to exist only up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves gifts from the public treasury.

Here’s my personal take along the same basic theme:

A democracy will to exist only up until the time that politicians discover they can buy votes using the public treasury.

Don’t think we’re there yet? Maybe this previous Biden quote from the 2020 election cycle will convince you that we are well on our way:

“If you send Jon and the Reverend to Washington, those $2,000 checks will go out the door,” Biden said Monday while campaigning in Atlanta on the eve of the election. “And if you send Sens. Perdue and Loeffler back to Washington, those checks will never get there. It’s just that simple. The power is literally in your hands.”

And so it continues, the slide into fiscal insolvency in the name of “democracy”. A slide towards a failed economy and eventual dependence on the government. A slide where productivity is punished (why should one work to line the pockets of others, when they can be moochers, looters and freeloaders themselves?) as we become ever more dependent on politicians for our daily alms via redistributed wealth. But what happens when the wealth runs out? This can only end in a despotic, “We know better than you” totalitarian oligarchic government whose power is obtained and held based on public dependence. And it is democrats/socialists leading the way – not Trump. Who’d have thought?

I find it interesting that some still claim it’s the conservatives who will lead us down the path of tyranny, of totalitarianism. Have we already forgotten that Hitler was not a conservative, but was instead a socialist (he was the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, aka the NAZI party)? Have we already forgotten that Kim Il sung’s totalitarian state was named the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea? Or that the communist regime of East Germany was similarly named the German Democratic Republic (GDR)? Just as how Democrats have convinced Americans that it was the Republicans who fought for the oppression of African-Americans (it wasn’t – it was southern Democrats who fought for slavery, oppression and Jim Crow laws; it was Republicans fighting against them), Democrats are also implying that it is the Republicans and other conservatives who are leading us down the road to totalitarianism. But it’s not – it’s the progressive left, as usual.

I went to college. I did not incur debt. I reduced my costs by attending a community college for 2 years before transferring to a 4-year university; I also worked throughout my graduate education. I was a responsible adult who earned a useful degree in a STEM discipline without incurring debt so as to not be a burden on others. As a result I am now to be saddled with the debt of the irresponsible – the debt of students who earned a useless degree in a worthless field and who now don’t want to pay back the money they were loaned in good faith.

What a fool I am; I could have been a moocher! Maybe next time…

Hubris

So why don’t they just accept less money and pay their workers more? Or keep their money and let the free market system eventually work things out?

Over 100 millionaires call for higher taxes worldwide: ‘Tax us now’

It’s because with money these people have power. With money they can control politicians; and by allowing some small portion of their wealth to be redistributed by the government, the politicians can exert control over the people through dependence. Thus, money gives these people power over you – if you let them.

The hubris of demanding they be taxed more – that you become more dependent on them, their money, and the politicians who redistribute it – rather than simply taking less and allowing you to gain independence exposes their true goal.

Buying votes with your money…

I predicted that the Biden administration would use this “carrot” right up to the midterm election. Guess it starts now:

White House extends federal student loan repayment pause after heavy progressive criticism

This is essentially using taxpayer money (approximately $1.6 TRILLION of it) to buy votes – 45 million of them. With a total voting-age citizen population of ~232 million, this amounts to nearly 20% of the voting population who will be beholden to Biden and the Democrats in the hope that they cancel their student debt.

 And it’s wrong. Let me count the ways:

1) It’s $1.6 TRILLION DOLLARS!!! Are you KIDDING ME? That’s damn near the annual budget of the United States.

2) This isn’t non-existent money, fictional money – it was paid out of the treasury, will have to be made up from somewhere. This amount is equal to collecting ~$5000 from each and every person living in the U.S. – legal, illegal, citizen, non-citizen, woman and child. That’s a lot of money.

3) But, don’t worry! The “Squad” will make the 1% pay! Yeah, THAT’S the ticket… make the 1% pay. For the 1% (this is one out of every one hundred people, for you math-challenged, “math is racist” types), this means an additional tax burden of $500,000 per person (not household). How long before they move somewhere else – and take their job-creating companies with them? How long before Tesla is a Japanese auto manufacturer? Think not? Think Detroit…

4) Only the student’s benefited from the money. Why should others have to pay?

5) How is this any different than someone borrowing money to buy a car, then wanting the government to forgive their loan? Why don’t we just forgive their car and mortgage loans? Wouldn’t that put more money into the economy, just like paying off people’s college loans? Oh, wait… inflation from more money not backed by production flooding the economy…

6) Many of us worked through college to avoid graduating with debt – where’s our check? How about those who paid their debt dutifully, before the Democrats promised to pay? Knowing that politicians were willing to buy my vote by paying off my student loans would certainly encourage people to pay their loans, wouldn’t it (yeah, right!)?

There are many other reasons why this is bad; use your imagination. And your vote!

Can’t risk the Soma supply…

I wonder if they will give tax breaks to other retail businesses affected by the smash-and-grab crime spree engulfing San Francisco and other Bay Area cities? Probably not…

San Francisco moves to delay its cannabis business tax to give legal dealers a boost

Soma: noun. A drug described in Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel, “A Brave New World”,  purported to have “all the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects.” Read a book, will you?

What they don’t tell you

Yes, the jobs report was “bad” last month. Only 210,000 new jobs added. But that is only half the story:

Hiring slowed sharply in November, even before omicron, with 210,000 jobs added

The truth is that there are plenty of jobs – the JOLTS report (which reflects jobs open rather than filled) indicates there are more than 10 million available jobs at the end of September. So why were only 221,000 filled? Good question.

It turns out that the number of people in the workforce has dropped. It is currently 61.8%; pre-pandemic it was 63.3%. This means that roughly 4 million people are sitting out the recovery. A big reason might be the $300/month/child parents are being paid to … well, be parents. I know, I know – by itself the $300/month/child doesn’t seem like much, but when added to child care cost savings it will tip the scales towards staying home. Not a problem, if I wasn’t expected to pay for it.

Average day care per child is running about $200/week. This amounts to about $800/month. Assuming 3 children, that’s $2400/month. Add to that the child tax credit currently paid monthly, $300/month/child x 3 children = $900. Now we’re up to $3300/month in child care savings and government payments for a family with three children – that’s nearly 40K/year to stay home. Now, I don’t mind people staying home to raise their children – I just don’t want to pay them to do it. Not my child, not my pageant. Raise your own damn children. BTW, this increase in the child tax credit (it’s not so much a child tax credit as it is a tax on childless couples) was originally part of COVID relief legislation, but Biden’s “Build Back Broker” plan wants to make it permanent. The BBB plan includes “…permanent refundability for the Child Tax Credit…“, further incentivizing people not to work.

Now, again, I don’t mind people staying home to raise their children. And it’s fine that they remove themselves from the workforce to do so. But paying people to stay home and not work will only result in inflation. Think about it: money added to the economy (that we borrowed, no less) when less is being produced – the only possible outcome is inflation (unless our politicians balance the budget – fat chance of that ever happening…!).

And don’t give me any crap about how these parents are doing “valuable work” raising their children and thus should be paid; I’m not buying it. The work has value ONLY TO THEM, and thus it is only they who should pay for the work. Their circular argument goes something like this: I can’t afford to pay for a gardener, so I’m going to do my own gardening. But gardening is productive work, so I want to be paid for it – and thus the government should pay me. But the bullshit part of this argument is that the person who benefits from the labor is the one who should pay – in this case, the homeowner benefits from the work. They are free to pay themselves what they would have paid a gardener, but the result will be a wash. They did the work, they benefited from the work. Account closed. Get the hell out of my wallet!

The alternative is that the parents not be paid to stay home, and only reap the benefit of the child care savings. This would be fine – and since it introduces no new (unearned) money to the economy, inflation is not affected. Former childcare workers could actually go on to do other productive work. All is good with the world.

If we want the economy to improve, we must stop incentivizing people to not be productive, and – more importantly – we’ve got to stop paying them for non-productive (to the rest of the world) work like raising their own children. Only then will the workforce participation rate return to normal and inflation be tamed.

Yeah… $600 means you’re rich…

I don’t think that people with $600 are the ones cheating on their taxes…

Yellen on $600 IRS reporting requirement: ‘There’s a lot of tax fraud and cheating that’s going on.’

So why do you think the government is so interested in your $600 bank account, particularly when most Americans can’t even handle an unexpected $500 expense? Could this simply be an excuse to expand government oversight and control of our lives? Perhaps it’s a sign that they intend to tax those with $600 for the benefit of those who don’t?

Proof that educated doesn’t mean smart

Liberals have been quick to claim an “education gap” between conservative and liberal voters, which they use to assert the moral high ground as the informed, intellectual class. Unfortunately, being educated today doesn’t necessarily make one smart. The classical “liberal” college degree, once meant to impart a well-rounded general education onto its graduates, now only serves to provide proof of indoctrination into the liberal agenda and a blind adherence to its dogma. Here’s a perfect example where the “educated” left are ignorant to reality, instead choosing to churn out tired old leftist cliches learned during their indoctrination:

Residents in AOC’s district say how much they think the rich pay in taxes

Here are the more interesting quotes from the news article linked above:

“We’re paying too much taxes,” a woman named [redacted] told Fox News. “The lower and middle classes, we’re working our butts off and we’re paying so much taxes, and then you’ve got the upper class and they’re not paying anything.”

But this is far from the truth. In 2018, the top 1.6% of earners paid 38.4% of all income taxes. In fact, the top 8.3% of earners paid fully 61.6% of all income taxes – more than the remaining 91.7% combined!

The wealthiest people are “definitely paying the bare minimum if any,” he continued. “I would assume it’s about 5%, if that.”  

Interesting, but false. The top 0.5% of earners in America paid a marginal tax rate of 37%.

“They should be paying the same amount of taxes as the middle and lower class are,” [redacted] said. “That way it gives us equal share and no one is feeling singled out.”

Finally, something we can all agree on – a flat tax. The real benefit to this plan, however, is detrimental to Congress: it means that we all have to pay for the indulgences of our political leaders, making it more difficult for Congress to buy the votes of their favored constituents with other people’s money. This, of course, would be a boon for freedom and democracy – but a bust for politics as usual.

In any event, thank Dog for the “educated” class. How else would we learn just how stupid people can be?

A page from the Biden playbook…?

Worried about winning an election (or recall)? What to do, what to do…?

Why not buy votes with the taxpayer’s own money? After all, it worked for Biden:

Facing A Recall And A Massive Surplus, Gov. Newsom Proposes More Stimulus Checks

I’m not an expert on the “Gann Limit“, but I just don’t see how returning a budget surplus to California taxpayers means sending out stimulus checks to those who pay little to no taxes….

If approved, the state would give $600 checks to workers who earn up to $75,000 annually, with $500 bonuses for tax filers with dependents and undocumented families.

Shouldn’t the money go back to the taxpayers in the same proportion that they paid, rather than being used by the sitting governor to buy votes to defeat their upcoming recall? And why are “undocumented” families, who pay no taxes or work using fraudulent tax documents, be given any of this taxpayer refund at all?

How is this even legal?!?